AHS Hosts its Annual Charity Football Match
By Sanjith Kalpat
STAFF WRITER
Andover High School’s annual Charity Football Match occurred November 31, raising money for this year’s local charity, Neighbors in Need.
As a longstanding tradition, the Charity Football Match, referred to by students as the Powderpuff game, is organized yearly by the Senior Board. The board brings together senior girls, coached and cheered by senior boys, for a friendly game of football. This year’s matchup featured two teams: Bikers versus Surfers.
Every year, the charity match is held to raise money for a specific charity. According to Laura Jordan, AHS Latin teacher and head of the Senior Board, while the total funds raised are yet to be calculated, the profits generated from collections of ticket sales and T-shirt purchases pitched in by all year boards (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) was directed towards the local charity Neighbors in Need in Lawrence, which supports at-risk families and youth facing food insecurity.
This year’s matchup saw the Bikers top the Surfers, 32-8. However, Jordan mentioned, “It’s funny because this tends to happen every year. [The] team that dominated in the scoreboard was the Surfers, but the team that dominated according to their cheer and pep seemed to be the other team, the Bikers. That always seems to happen.”
Despite the blowout score, Jordan and many others saw the event as a success. Breaking with tradition, the match had an early start time of 4:30 p.m. “We think that kind of drew in a lot of students who were still hanging around campus and didn’t have to go home, kill time, and come back later,” Jordan said.
The Surfers celebrate their halftime performance.
Leading the Surfers were captains Brian McSweeney, Connor Lebrun, Chris Dessin, Jamyl Figueroa, and Johnny Enman. The Surfer cheer captains were Gabi Millien and Maya Smith McPherson. On the Bikers’ side, captains Ryan Zannoni, Brian Hnat, Patrick Cote, and Liam Finn led the team, while Tatum Ahearn and Alyssa Desfosse rallied the Biker cheer squad.
